Why do you have 3 different different entry hazard set-uppers? I know you won't necessarily be trying to bet all 3 sets down each game, but it strikes me that something that can do 2 sets can catch an opponent off guard.
I'm also surprised you don't have Dragon Tail/Circle throw to throw off Taunt users.
Seems like an inpleasant team to play against, but it seems fairly decent. But taunters and encore users really hurt your game I would think.
I find almost impossible to be able to set up SR + 2 Toxic + 1-3 Spikes with 1 or 2 pokemons.
I dont relay on the hazard itself THAT much to be shut down by Taunt. Also, the only one who may get Taunted are Skarmory and Hippodown and they can hit hard under Taunt regardless. It would be really difficult to Taunt Roserade thanks to his Spe (I mean, by the time he is Taunted the opponent will be either sleep or already have the Toxic Spikes up).
Taunt and Encore dont hurt that much. Specially Encore since I can continue droping the 2 Toxic / 3 Spikes or just switch to the next one / a wall.
Spreading hazards with different stuff seems like a good idea to me. If one faints, he could still set hazards. However, I noticed a strong weakness to fire, ice and electric. If you really won 6-0, that is pretty good so far. Keep up the good work.
Also, I thought your team was based on paraflinching at first...oh, well.
Thanks.
Hippo can tank Electric while Jellicent can tank Fire. Jirachi can tank Ice up to some point but Ice is way to good as an offensive type. Im happy with the diversity of types offensively and defensively regardless.
Is a very different strategy than ParFlinch. That is usually done by a single pokemon, not a team strategy at all. Also, it conflicts with the Hazard engine (Toxic Spikes mostly) and it doesnt let me play Scarf. It also needs a turn to set up (in this case I dont, I aim for hazards and a crippled opponent team but I can perma-Flinch with a little luck and take down everything minus a few Scarfed pokes like Starmie (who rarely plays Scarf), Alakazam and Jolteon. Also Priority.
Also, the team seems pretty defensive physically, but what about specially? Trick to cripple two opposing Pokemon seems awesome, but if you really want to base your team on flinching, I recommend thunderwave on both Jirachi and Togekiss instead. If the opponent outspeeds you, you can't flinch them, right?
Giving us the EVs for the last 3 members of your team could also help our rate.
Roserade and Jellicent are my special walls. Skarmory and Hippo are my physical walls.
If I add Thunder Wave I would have to remove both Scarf and Toxic Spikes from this team. Furthermore, it would force my boss pokemons to set up for 1 turn vs every opponent making them extreamly vulnerable. It would also not solve the problem vs Priority. In return I get +15% flinch ratio (the 25% from prz becomes 15ish efectively) and it can outspeed "everything".
This is the real list of things
WITH SCARF (nothing without a Scarf can outspeed me) who can outspeed me:
Jolteon - Cant Thunder Wave
Alakazam - I would rather 1HKO than ParaFlinch
Dugtrio - I would rather 1HKO than ParaFlinch
Starmie - ParaFlinch is better vs him
Tornadus - Cant outspeed Prankster regardless
Espeon - Cant Thunder Wave
Gengar - He doesnt plays Scarf and if he do I would rather 1HKO than ParaFlinch
Latias - ParaFlinch is better vs him
Latios - ParaFlinch is better vs him
Infernape - I will probably die in the turn I set up the Thunder Wave
Terrakion - I will probably die in the turn I set up the Thunder Wave
Virizion - ParaFlinch is better vs him
Mienshao - I will probably die in the turn I set up the Thunder Wave
Landorus - Cant Thunder ave
Starmie only plays Scarf 9.36% of times. Furthermore, she will most likely be dead by late game since they will most likely send her in early/mid game to counter my hazards.
Latios only plays Scarf 24.34% of times. Furthermore, he will most likely kill me in the turn I set up regardless.
Latias is almost an underused pokemon (3.54% apparence ratio) and only plays Scarf 6.85% of times.
Virizion is also almost an undersued pokemon (2.64% app ratio) and only plays Scarf 0.58% of times.
As you can see, ScarfFlinch is way better than ParaFlinch.
Also, my bad on the EVs. Didnt realized it. I fixed it.
Poison Spikes kind of ruin Thunderwave-flinch as a strategy.
Indeed. It is one of the 3 reasons I play Flinch instead ParaFlinch.
Choice scarfs also ruin flinching, but you still have it. :D
Yes. It is one of the 3 reasons I play Flinch instead ParaFlinch.
So far it looks like you have a great defensive team in the making. It looks good so far, but I have a few small changes I would make if I was using this team.
The first change I would make is change both Roserades move set slightly and change its EV's. While others will be inclined to disagree with me, I suggest running Giga Drain instead of Leaf Storm. Leaf storm will prevent you from breaking up scizor wash as easily as you could with Giga drain due to the special attack drop. The special attack will prevent you from killing scizor with hp fire if scarf Rotom-w volt switches to scizor as you use leaf leaf storm. I also would reccomended changing the EV's spread to make her much bulkier. I'm guessing you are using the speed EV's to outspees max speed rotom-w (if you could explain that would be very helpful.
The second change I would make would be putting Taunt over scald on Jellicent. The targets that scald is used for aren't going to be in front of you when using the sp. def EV's spread (think gyarados/scizor). The reason I kept shadow ball is that it allows you to hit Latios/starmie pretty hard. Taunt will let you shut down stall completely in tandem with the two-scarfers (Jellicent will act as the stallbreaker). Jellicent should be able to stall break pretty well since Roserade will be able to absorb opposing Toxic Spikes.
Maybe change fire blast to flamethrower, but that is only my preference to accuracy.
The last two changes I would make would be changing Jirachi'snature to being jolly instead of adamant replacing U-turn with Ice-Punch. Your team looks very sceptible to Latios. While Jellicent could handle most, many do carry thunderbolt/thunder (almost all carry surf so hippowdon is out of the question). Ice punch will allow you to smack Latios with a surprise if you bring him in on a dragon move the first time. Most of your team mates don't have the offensive reserve to benefit from u-turn anyway. Ice punch will definitely patch up your Latios issue (as well as hit a myriad of other threats as a scarfer.
Overall great team!
Edit: I forgot to state why you should change to jolly! In OU, there werent many Pokemon in the base 100 tier that had a paticularly large amount of popularity and even rarer still were scarfers from that speed tier (partially has to do with landorus). However, now Salamence has gained a huge amount of popularity because of Moxie, in paticular his ,ost popular set, Choice scarf Moxie Mence. However, all of these salamences run an adamant nature, meaning if you ran a jolly nature you could outspeed all of them and smack them with an Ice Punch (which is the other big reason to use ice punch over u-turn).
First of all, thanks for the comment :)
Roserade vs Rotom-W: I used to play GigaDrain but I removed it for LeafStorm for this reason:
Roserade's speed: 300.
Non-Scarf Rotom-W max speed: 298
4 SpA Roserade's Giga Drain vs 4 SpD Rotom-W: 62.2% - 73%
4 SpA Roserade's Leaft Storm vs 4 SpD Rotom-W: 141.9% - 167.6%
4 SpA Roserade's Leaft Storm vs 252 SpD 252 HP Rotom-W (ridiculous build): 90.8% - 107.2%
This way I can use all the EVs that would otherwise go to SpA into bulkiness. YES, I do lose SpA, but honestly, I can just Sleep and switch, or Sleep Toxic Toxic die/switch, etc. I dont really need much SpA since I dont beat multiple pokemons.
Taunt on Jellicent: I used to have Taunt on Jellicent but I remove it because of his horrendus speed. I think Taunt's potential comes when you can Taunt their first non-damaging move. It looks like a bad variant of Whirlwind when you go second. Scalad is (imo) his worst move, but it provides two things:
1) When they send their Persuit TTar on my Jellicent I can Scalad for 35% of their HP so Jirachi can 1HKO them with a single Iron Head.
2) Heatran is a ridiculous pain in the ass. Scalad can 2HKO offensive Heatran, 2HKO 252 HP or SpD Heatran under Stealth Rock and 3HKO 252 HP 252 SpD Heatran without Stealth Rock.
Flamethrower vs Fire Blast: I would agree with you most of the times, but in this case, since I have Scarf, I would rather be locked into Fire Blast rather than Flamethrower since, after the first one is dead, the next one will probably not be weak to fire and I would rather have a move that is more capable to give me a 2HKO than one that woul give me a 3HKO.
Ice Punch over U-Turn on Jirachi: I dont understand this. U-Turn vs Latios hits for 40.5% - 47.8%. Ice Punch vs Latios hits for 43.2% - 51.2%. Both are 2HKO under Stealth Rock. You could say I cant abuse the switch, but I can. I would rather sacrifice any of my pokemon for the oportunity of Latios not 1HKOing the only pokemon who can 2HKO him.
Salamence thing: I didnt remembered playing vs that set so I searched for it. Salamance is seen 1 out of 10 games and that set is played in 1 out of 3 games which means that would happen 1 out of 30 times :P And even if that happens I can always hope for a lucky speed-tie win hehe is 50/50 regardless :P I will keep my eye on that tho.
Nice Team! I dislike the fact that you have two choice scarf users, maybe one of them can be a paraflincher, But you can keep it if it works for you. A rapid spinner might be nice too, for togekiss. Like what ThePillsburyDoughBoy said, latios is a big threat! make sure you counter that too.
Not sure how I can counter Latios tbh.
However, he is seen in 1 out of 10 teams and plays Scarf 1 out of 4 times which means he is only a problem 1 evey 40 games. I can always hope to PermaFlinch him to death when he doesnt have Scarf lol.
